Edinburgh rubbish ‘deeply concerning’ says Swinney as council strikes escalate

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has said the piles of rubbish building up throughout Edinburgh are “deeply concerning” for public health.

John Swinney spoke out as unions warned the dispute over local government pay, which saw cleansing staff in the capital walk out on strike last week – could become a “winter of discontent”.

Cleansing staff in Edinburgh have been out on strike since August 18, with the action timed to coincide with the summer festivals.

But the action has now escalated, with waste workers in 13 other local authorities, including Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, joining the protest while schools in some areas could be forced to close next month if staff there join the walkout.

Unions, which are demanding urgent talks with Mr Swinney, want the Scottish Government to step in and find more cash to resolve the pay dispute.

Asked about the impact of the strike in Edinburgh, the Deputy First Minister said: “I think the condition of the city of Edinburgh just now is deeply concerning on a host of levels, not least in relation to public health.

“So I acknowledge the significance of the issue which is why I want to see the industrial action resolved, why I would prefer it didn’t spread to other parts of the country.”

He stressed the Scottish Government had already provided £140 million to councils – with this cash helping fund the improved offer of 5%.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar hit out at ministers over their handling of the dispute, saying: “I would get people around the table, I would get Cosla around the table.

“I’d be getting the unions round the table and I’d be working day and night to get an answer to this dispute, not the dither, delay and disinformation we’ve seen from the SNP.”

The situation in Edinburgh is not a local dispute, he added, but rather a national dispute.

“Frankly, workers, local residents and tourists in Edinburgh deserve better than this misinformation campaign we’ve seen from the SNP,” Mr Sarwar said.

His comments came as  Wendy Dunsmore, of Unite, said Scottish ministers needed to match the £1,925 pay rise being given to local government workers in the rest of the UK.

The 5% on offer will see workers in Scotland receive an average of £900 a year more she said, as she insisted the unions were “here for the long haul”.

Speaking about the protest, Ms Dunsmore told BBC Radio Scotland: “Our first wave was in Edinburgh, the second wave is waste across Scotland, our third wave is going to be schools.

“And it may not stop at schools, we’re in here for the long haul.”

She added: “Our members are demanding a better pay rise, and who knows where we are going to go next?

“We’re looking for a winter of discontent, even though we’re just approaching autumn.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already made clear the Scottish Government does not have a “bottomless pit of money” to resolve the dispute.

But Ms Dunsmore insisted ministers needed to find more cash, as she called on the Scottish Government to at least match the £1,925 pay offer that has been made to council workers in the rest of the UK.

Any rise needs to give “proper recognition that there is a crisis out there for low-paid workers”, Ms Dunsmore insisted.

She said: “Our members are being offered on average of £900. That’s less than half of what is being offered elsewhere.

“Now a Tory Government is offering our workers down south nearly £2,000, I don’t think it’s a bad ask for the Scottish Government to at least match that.”

Ms Dunsmore continued: “We don’t want strikes, but it is down to the Scottish Government to stop these strikes.

“There is an impact but that’s not an impact because of the workers, that’s because there is a shortage of funding to the Scottish local authorities. This lands at the Scottish Government.”

In the Scottish capital, which has seen its streets strewn with litter and bins overflowing, council leader Cammy Day said he was “disappointed” a deal had not been reached.

“This is a national crisis playing out in Edinburgh’s streets during our busiest and most important time of the year,” he said.

“And while this clearly shows the value of our waste teams’ work, it also demonstrates a national failure to find an acceptable resolution.”

As well as the action by waste workers, the strike is set to spread to school and nursery staff in nine council areas set to go on strike next month.

Unions Unison and the GMB have said their members will walk out between September 6 and 8, a move that will see schools, early years centres and nurseries disrupted in Aberdeenshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, Orkney, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Stirling.

Cosla resources spokesperson, councillor Katie Hagmann, said: “We fully understand that our trade union colleagues want the best possible deal for their members, especially given the concerns many within our workforce have around the cost of living crisis we are currently facing.

“That is why we as employers have done everything possible to put the best offer we can to them in the context of the extremely challenging financial circumstances Scotland’s councils have been and are continuing to face.”

She insisted the new offer would see the lowest paid 12% of workers receive an increase above 5% – adding this was “one of, if not the best offer in decades for Scottish local government workers”.